Minot apartment operating costs are shaped by four things most owners feel every month: a long, cold heating season, city utility rates that are rising, a commercial property tax classification for buildings with four or more units, and the lasting financial footprint of the 2011 Souris River flood. None of them is unusual on its own, but together they make expense control the main lever an owner has in this market. Here is how each one works and what it costs, with the source year for each figure.
Minot is a home-rule city and the county seat of Ward County, a role it has held since an 1888 vote moved the seat from Burlington. The 2020 Census counted 48,377 residents, and the Census Bureau’s July 1, 2025 estimate is 47,308. According to the Census Bureau’s QuickFacts page for Minot, 56.7% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and the median gross rent in the 2020–2024 American Community Survey was $973 a month. Minot Air Force Base, about 13 miles north of the city, is a major nearby employer.
With rents near that level, a few hundred dollars a month in extra utility or tax cost on a small building is a meaningful share of net operating income.
Heating: the cost that defines the year
The single biggest climate fact for a Minot building is how long it has to be heated. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate normals for Minot International Airport, covering 1991 to 2020, show:
- An average January temperature of 13.8°F, with an average January low of 4.4°F.
- About 8,382 heating degree days a year, including roughly 1,586 in January alone.
Heating degree days measure how far the daily average temperature falls below 65°F, and they track closely with fuel use. A building in a market with half as many degree days uses far less gas for space heat. For owners, the implications are practical. Boiler and furnace efficiency, insulation, window condition and the split between owner-paid and tenant-paid heat matter more here than in most of the country. Frozen pipes in vacant units or unheated stairwells are a real risk in January, which is one reason many owners keep vacant units heated and check them regularly through the winter.
Electricity and natural gas in Minot
Who supplies gas and electricity
The City of Minot’s utility directory lists Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU) as the natural gas provider. For electricity, the city lists two providers, Xcel Energy and Verendrye Electric Cooperative, so the supplier depends on the building’s location. Owners should confirm which electric utility serves a property before using another building’s bills as a benchmark.
Xcel’s 2026 rate increase
North Dakota regulators approved an Xcel Energy electric rate increase on February 5, 2026. As reported by the North Dakota Monitor, the approval raised Xcel’s overall North Dakota rates by 10.37% and residential rates by 12.92%, about $11.94 a month for an average residential customer. Xcel had requested 19.34%. Minot is among the communities Xcel serves in the state.
For an apartment building, that residential increase mostly reaches tenants who pay their own electric bills. Owners feel it through house meters: hallway and exterior lighting, laundry rooms, elevators, common-area heat and any electric heat in units where the owner pays utilities. A building with a large house-meter load saw a real step up in 2026, and that cost should be reflected in any updated operating budget.
City water, sewer and garbage rates
Minot sets its utility rates by City Council resolution. The most recent official rate resolutions available online give a clear picture of how apartment accounts are billed, though rates have been adjusted since.
Water
Under City Resolution No. 3826, effective January 1, 2024, apartment and commercial water accounts pay a monthly flat charge based on meter size, plus a usage charge:
- 5/8-inch to 1-inch meter: $13.20 a month.
- 1.5-inch to 2-inch meter: $25.23 a month.
- 3-inch to 4-inch meter: $66.96 a month.
- 6-inch to 8-inch meter: $136.38 a month.
- Usage: $4.22 per 100 cubic feet, plus a $2.00 meter-reading (MXU) charge.
Buildings with one to four units were billed at $10.78 a month plus $3.75 per 100 cubic feet under the same resolution.
Sewer
Resolution No. 3788, effective January 1, 2023, set sewer for apartment accounts at a $7.71 flat rate plus $3.70 per 100 cubic feet. Because sewer is billed on water usage, every gallon saved through low-flow fixtures or leak repairs reduces two charges at once.
A worked example
Consider a 24-unit building on a 2-inch meter using 60 hundred cubic feet (about 45,000 gallons) of water in a month. At the 2023–2024 rates above, water would come to about $280 ($25.23 plus $253.20 in usage plus the $2.00 meter charge) and sewer to about $230 ($7.71 plus $222.00 in usage), or roughly $510 a month before storm water and garbage fees. That is our arithmetic on the published rates, not a city figure, and current bills will be higher if the planned increases take effect.
Garbage and storm water fees
Resolution No. 3826 also set garbage cart fees of $14.72 a month for a 35-gallon cart, $16.72 for a 65-gallon cart and $18.72 for a 95-gallon cart, plus $2.50 for a recycling cart. It set storm sewer fees made up of a $6.07 maintenance charge, a $4.82 development charge and a flood maintenance charge of $2.00 for residential or $4.00 for non-residential accounts. The city approved a flat $10 monthly fee for second trash carts starting April 1, 2026.
Rates are going up
The Minot Daily News reported in August 2026 that the plan for the city’s 2027 budget adds $1 a month to the first garbage cart and raises water and sewer rates for all users. Owners should ask the city’s Utility Billing office for the current rate schedule before budgeting, rather than relying on older resolutions.
How the flood still shows up in costs
The 2011 Souris River flood, known locally as the Mouse River flood, is part of every conversation about Minot real estate. According to the city’s flood chronology, the river crested on June 26, 2011 at 1,561.72 feet, the highest in the city’s history. In Minot, about 4,100 homes flooded and 3,100 of them were lost or extensively damaged. Around 11,000 residents were displaced, and residential damage exceeded $480 million. The U.S. Geological Survey’s account of the flood reports similar figures.
Paying for flood protection
The region’s response is the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project. The State Water Commission’s project summary puts the estimated total cost at about $1.8 billion. Through its latest update, about $471 million had come from the state, $207 million from local sources and $141 million from federal sources, leaving roughly $1.06 billion to be funded. The Legislature appropriated $81.1 million for the 2025–2027 biennium, and the state covers 65% of eligible engineering and construction costs.
Locally, the project is funded largely through the city sales tax rather than through utility bills. The Minot Daily News reported in November 2026 that 1.08 cents of the city’s 2-cent sales tax goes to water projects, with 0.68 cents of that going to flood control, scheduled to peak at 1 cent by 2036–2037, and the remainder to the Northwest Area Water Supply project. The State Water Commission’s summary independently confirms a dedicated local flood sales tax.
For owners, the effect is mostly indirect. The visible flood item on a utility bill is the storm sewer flood maintenance charge. The larger questions are insurance and location: properties near the river carry more flood risk, and lenders may require flood coverage depending on the building’s flood zone designation. Checking a property’s current flood zone and flood insurance cost is a basic step before budgeting.
Property tax on Minot apartment buildings
Four or more units are commercial
North Dakota’s tax classification has a direct effect on Minot apartment operating costs. Under N.D.C.C. Chapter 57-02, residential property excludes structures that provide living accommodations for four or more separate family units. Those buildings are classified as commercial. The assessed value of property is 50% of its true and full value. Taxable value is then 9% of assessed value for residential property and 10% for commercial, which works out to 4.5% and 5% of true and full value.
The local mill levy
The Ward County 2025 levy sheet shows a consolidated levy of 320.38 mills for the City of Minot, made up of 78.00 mills for the city, 46.58 for the park district, 135.99 for the school district and 59.81 for state and county levies.
Put together, a commercial apartment building with a true and full value of $1,000,000 would have a taxable value of $50,000. At 320.38 mills, that is about $16,000 a year before any credits or special assessments. A duplex or triplex, still classified as residential, would be taxed on 4.5% of value instead.
Budgets, caps and what does not apply to rentals
Two recent decisions affect the trend. The City Council approved its 2027 budget on September 21, 2026, totaling $217,983,707, with a property tax levy of $23,201,105, an increase of $3,100,151 over the prior year. At the state level, House Bill 1176, signed on May 3, 2025, raised the primary residence credit from $500 to $1,600 a year and set a 3% cap on growth in local property tax budgets, with unused room able to carry forward for up to five years. The primary residence credit applies only to owner-occupied homes, so it does not reduce taxes on rental buildings. The budget cap applies across property types. The bill also expanded the state’s renter’s refund program, which goes to tenants rather than landlords.
Deposits, codes and other rules with a cost
Security deposits
North Dakota’s security deposit statute, N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.1, limits deposits to one month’s rent, with up to two months allowed for tenants with certain prior judgments or a felony conviction. A separate pet deposit is capped at the greater of $2,500 or two months’ rent. Deposits must be held in a federally insured, interest-bearing account, and interest is owed to tenants who stay at least nine months. An itemized statement is due within 30 days after the lease ends and the tenant moves out, and a landlord who withholds a deposit without reasonable justification can owe three times the amount withheld. The administrative cost of tracking interest and deadlines is small, but the penalty for getting it wrong is not.
Building codes and contractors
The city’s Building Safety division requires permits for commercial work under the International Building, Fire, Mechanical, Fuel Gas and Energy Conservation codes, the Uniform Plumbing Code and the National Electrical Code, and many trades must hold city licenses. For a boiler replacement, re-roof or electrical upgrade, owners should budget for permit fees and the time a licensed contractor needs to schedule inspections. We did not find a citywide rental registration or periodic rental inspection program on the city’s website, so owners should confirm current requirements with the city’s inspection staff.
Putting Minot apartment operating costs into a budget
The figures above are easier to use when they are organized the way a lender or buyer will read an operating statement. For a typical Minot apartment building, the local inputs line up like this:
- Real estate taxes: true and full value times 5% for a building of four or more units, times the current consolidated mill levy, then adjusted for any special assessments on the parcel.
- Water and sewer: the meter-size flat charge plus usage at the current per-100-cubic-feet rates, multiplied by twelve, with a cushion for the increases planned in the 2027 budget.
- Garbage and storm water: cart fees by size and count, the recycling cart if used, and the storm sewer maintenance, development and non-residential flood charges.
- House-meter electricity: common-area lighting, laundry and mechanical loads at the current Xcel or Verendrye tariff, depending on the provider.
- Owner-paid natural gas: the largest seasonal swing, concentrated between November and March, which makes a trailing 12-month figure far more reliable than any single month.
- Insurance: property and liability coverage, plus flood coverage where the flood zone or the lender requires it.
- Repairs and reserves: heating plant, roofs and windows deserve a larger reserve allowance in a climate with this many heating degree days.
Two habits make the budget more accurate. First, use 12 months of actual utility bills rather than an annualized winter or summer month, because heating costs swing sharply through the year. Second, separate owner-paid from tenant-paid utilities unit by unit. A buyer who sees that tenants pay their own electricity and heat will treat the Xcel increase very differently from a building where the owner pays everything.
What this means for Minot owners
Minot apartment operating costs reward owners who manage the details. A few practical priorities stand out:
- Treat heat as the first budget line. With more than 8,000 heating degree days a year, mechanical efficiency and building envelope repairs pay back faster here than in milder markets.
- Separate meters where you can. Tenant-paid electric and heat shift the impact of rate cases like Xcel’s 2026 increase away from the owner.
- Fix water leaks quickly. Sewer is billed on water usage, so each leak costs twice.
- Budget the 2027 utility increases now, and get current rate schedules from Utility Billing.
- Underwrite taxes at the commercial rate for any building with four or more units, using the current consolidated mill levy.
- Check the flood zone and insurance cost before you buy or refinance.
To see how these expense lines change a building’s net income, the NOI calculator lets you test different utility, tax and insurance assumptions. For other cities in the state, see our North Dakota market overview, and if you are weighing a sale, our page on selling an apartment building in Minot explains how we look at local properties and their operating history.
